I also hope Paula will respond. But to address William’s question directly as to producers claiming this, I can quote some from the MFW report.
Selections from the very long text by Jean and David:
“The heavy rains in July proved a defining moment but, unlike in other regions, did not affect the region equally: Cooler regions fared better.
After a short heat wave at the end of June, massive rain totaling over 200mm fell down during the two first week of July, much more than in 2020, 2019, and 2020 combined. This led naturally to quite some outbreaks of rot (in particular Peronospora), but its effect varied a lot, as Christian Hermann noted: “In our area, the Erdener Treppchen got hit quite hard but the neighboring Ürziger Würzgarten much less so.” The reports from the Saar were more positive: No grower we spoke to saw massive impact from the July rains and the ensuing outbreak of rot. As one grower noted: “The Saar is cooler, sometimes it is an advantage!” However, across the Mosel, organic growers reported enormous losses in terms of yields due to Peronospora.”
…“Yields proved quite varied, but overall, they remain fair to normal (also in contrast to other German wine regions).
The outbreak of Peronospora in July led to quite some stress and also reduction of yields (they are particularly dramatic at organic estates). But the outbreak was far from uniform: In some vineyards it was heavy, in others hardly noticeable. The cooler Saar as a whole was also comparatively spared. The result is that the impact of the rains on yields was not as big as that reported from other regions in Germany. Some Estates even had completely normal yields.”
…"Readers should plunge upon the brilliant fruity-styled wines, which have the lightness of the finest vintages ever in the region.
We have tasted a fair share of wines by now and we are still under the impression of the fruity-styled wines. These wines have the lightness of the
1990s and the fruit precision and zest of grand modern vintages. Already now, some of these wines are candidates for wine perfection. While
stylistically, the result may vary from a tad ripe to slightly underripe in terms of flavors and from intense to less intense in term of texture, most of
these wines will offer grandiose drinking pleasure in a few years (keep in mind only one proviso which we address here below: de-acidification).
While there are many mesmerizing Kabinett, the full magic happens at Spätlese level!All eyes have been on Kabinett in recent years, and there are also some truly great Kabinett in 2021. But this is often at the expense of other
categories. Here we would like to draw your attention to the so unique Spätlese, a truly shunned category, but which more than delivered in 2021,
as the additional touch of ripeness allowed it in order to have a residual sugar / acidity couple often close to perfection!"
So, Peronospora was really an issue in the relatively warmer vineyards of the Middle Mosel, not in the cooler Saar, and presumably not so much in Mosel vineyards like Richter’s Elisenberg which is relatively cooler (though I have no direct information on this). I’ve gathered some of their quotes by the Mosel winemakers and underlined what I think are relevant parts. (Though I’m no farming expert.)
Quote by Christian Hermann (Weingut Dr. Hermann – Middle Mosel) -
“The Erdener Treppchen was particularly hit by Peronospora and we had a lot of work to fight against it, but all our efforts paid off in the end, even though we lost 40% of our yields there. Yields proved normal in Ürzig, Kinheim, and Piesport so that our average yields at the Estate are just below 60 hl/ha. We only started our harvest on October 14 under really good conditions with clean and fully ripe grapes, even though the Oechsle levels were not hugely high and thus great to produce refined and light-weighted wines, something which I’m really looking for.” –
MFW uniformly rated his Erdener Treppchen wines at the top of their categories in his collection.
Quote from Konstantin Weiser (Weingut Weiser-Künstler – Middle Mosel) -
“The growing conditions were quite wet, especially the summer, and this brought a > heavy Peronospora pressure in our vineyards, especially after the flowering. We therefore had an important reduction of our yields. The weather proved cool and the acidity levels remained on the high side. > Fortunately, sunny and dry weather arrived in September and essentially lasted until the end of the harvest. We actually started on October 4 and were finished by October 25. We had the help of a lot of people, which allowed us to do > strict and necessary selections in order to only bring in perfectly ripe and clean fruit. > I really like the acidity in the wines and I had never experienced such a vintage before. It is a very special vintage for Kabinett. We also adapted the wines and for instance there will be no Grosse Eule in 2021, as the grapes were just so beautiful to produce fruity-styled wines.”
Quote from Alex Loersch (Weingut Loersch – Middle Mosel):
“The results are really very good. We had great harvest conditions and were able to produce all quality levels in our line-up. The wines are elegant and refined with good acidity levels. The weather proved cool and wet during summer but turned out to be great as of September. > I delayed the harvest as long as possible as the acidity levels were still on the high side. > We started on October 10, but it was even still early. So, we decided to do some pre-harvest and selections and really only started on October 14. The selection we did at the beginning directly allowed us to bring in Auslese, at up to 105° Oechsle. However, the botrytis proved overall rare and grapes proved beautifully clean and healthy. We harvested each vineyard bit by bit, starting in Dhron as the acidity levels proved lower there. Yields proved quite low, at only 40-45 hl/ha and in addition to the long waiting time, it brought us superb quality. I had no fear that the grapes would rot so we would take the necessary time to do our selections. > We even brought in Kabinett fruit towards the end of the harvest from the Apotheke. > We were also able to do some strict selections in order to bring in some botrytized grapes from the Hofberg and the Apotheke. > You really had the feeling that ripeness and Oechsle were coming with more hanging time, while the acidity levels were just slightly lower. > Harvest was completed on November 5, except for some grapes we lead in the Altärchen for Eiswein and which we could harvest on the morning of December 22. I believe that 2021 is a typical Kabinett vintage. But it is also the first time ever that we were able to harvest all Prädikat levels in one vintage!”
Quote by Constantin Richter (Max Ferd Richter – Middle Mosel):
“I find the 2021 wines even better than our 2020s as they prove even finer and lighter. The vintage started with dry conditions, and March and April were sunny but cool, which led to later bud break. May brought a lot of rain and thus good water levels in the soils. Flowering only started at the end of June, so that everything was put delayed. The summer proved rainy, > causing considerable infection of fungus disease. We had to fight against it until the end of August, which caused us to have reduced yields. In addition, the ripening process was still quite retarded. > Hopefully as of the beginning of September, the weather turned out to be really superb with dry, sunny, and warm days. We started our harvest on October 11 and were over at the beginning of November, except for some grapes which we let for Eiswein in our Mülheimer Helenenkloster parcel. > The grapes were clean physiologically fully ripe, due to the long vegetation cycle, yet had low levels of Oechsle > so that the bulk of our harvest is QbA and Kabinett and we only have small amounts of Spätlese and Auslese. We were also able to harvest small quantities of fully botrytized fruit in the Wehlener Sonnenuhr. We eventually were able to harvest frozen grapes on December 22."
I short, I think as William puts it, there were a lot of issues ripening grapes. And a lot of selection and hang time was needed. And it was the warmer and drier fall that allowed for that hang time that got them ripe, not the concentration from clipping moldy bunches (nor do producers seem to be claiming this). But, again, I’m no expert.